. . . but this essay captures my thinking very well, and I would commend it to the attention of my friends, if only to understand where I'm coming from (feel free to go ahead and read it; I'll wait. . .). But, you might even find it worthwhile yourselves. . . (and, just because I know you'll wonder, because I did - as far as I can tell, Elizabeth Scalia is not closely related to US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.)
I almost studiously avoid political topics on this humble little blog of mine, mostly because I find the 'Politicization of Everything', so rampant in present-day culture, to be pretty severly cramped, in terms of its contribution to human life and flourishing. Politics is good for what it's good for, but the tendency these days (and really, since my youth) has been to invest it with something approaching Ultimate Significance, and it just doesn't work that way.
So, then. . . I know that, the electoral season having just recently ended for a week or two, before the next cycle starts back up again, many of you are weary beyond telling of anything that smells remotely of politics. Me, too. But, if we can train ourselves to see our neighbors as Human Beings, made in the Image and Likeness of God (regardless of how vehemently we may disagree with them). . .
Well, what kind of a world might that be?
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Excellent essay!
ReplyDeleteI like it! Labels is the lazy way out of getting to know a candidate, for sure. It would be interesting if we did away with the party system and people just ran on their own platforms. Oh, we can dream.......
ReplyDeleteA most-excellent essay, but a difficult... at best... prescription to follow. I still have a handful of Lefty friends left (heh), mostly from the Old Days when I held the same sorts of political views. The fact our friendships have survived is due to conscious efforts on the part of all of us to, above all, respect each other. I think that's the key: respect.
ReplyDeleteThere times, though... that you MUST call a spade a spade. On both sides.
I'm pretty good at labeling, categorizing, and/or defining others. I like to think the door is always open to rethink my original opinion.
ReplyDeleteWhen I know someone really well, like a family member or really close friend, those labels go out the window.
joeh - Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteBijoux - Hmmmmm. . . I'm sure that political parties contribute to the whole 'labeling' thing (and it is an ongoing source of frustration that there just isn't one that really comprehends my own thoughts and ideals), but I don't think much would get accomplished without 'em, either. . . I think her point was directed to a more 'micro' level, of how we treat people. That people are more than the boxes we put them into, and we too often use 'labels' as a shortcut to thinking we know someone, when we don't. . .
Buck - Yup. Respect is certainly at the heart of it.
Again, I don't think she's saying we shouldn't say what we mean, or soft-pedal what we really think, in order to 'get along'. Love has its hard edges, too (Dostoevsky said, "Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing, compared to love in dreams"; I love that quote). We need to always remember that we are talking about people. People with whom we disagree, perhaps, but people, not labels. Using the shorthand of labels tempts us to think of them as less-than-people, and great evil comes from that.
Skip - Oh, I understand what you're saying. Heck, even the clothes we wear give out impressions of what we're like. But I promise that somebody that thinks they know all about me from, say, the fact that I'm implacably opposed to abortion, is gonna be surprised. Much less how I wear my hair. . .
And I'm sure you and I would do just fine over a suitably convivial beverage. . .
;)
Wonderful sentiments, with which I fully agree (but, alas, do not always live.)
ReplyDeleteWell, you know, Sully - people like you never do. . .
ReplyDelete;)
it's one reason why i refuse to declare a political party. it's why i won't identify as a particular denomination of christian. it's why when i had to fill out forms at HR for my new job and they asked what my race was i wrote down "human." (yes, i really did. maybe it establishes me as a troublemaker early on....but again, with the labels).
ReplyDeletewhat a pain. lost another good comment just like that. will make something up again later when i have time, not feeling so articulate as i was when i wrote it before .....
ReplyDeletesheesh.
I am allergic to politics. Pass the epi-pen, please. :)
ReplyDeleteLime - 'Human'; I laughed out loud. I did the exact same thing when I hired in with my current employer, 14 years ago. The HR rep made a sour face and said, "'human' isn't one of the options." I told her it was the only answer I was going to give. Then she erased my answer, saying, "I'm just going to check 'white', since I can see with my own eyes that's what you are." At that point, I didn't want to raise the 'troublemaker' flag any higher than I had already, so I just shut up and let it ride, knowing that government quotas, etc, were at stake. But sheesh - erasing my answer???
ReplyDelete(*sigh*)
Xavier - Well I hope your articulate-ness returns soon; I'm really interested in your thoughts. . .
Flutter - That's a pretty severe allergy. . .
;)
Erased your answer? Job or no job, I would have had to reach across the desk, grab the paper, and fill in "human" again, and keep repeating until she threw me out. Sheesh.
ReplyDelete(*sigh*) I know. . .
ReplyDeleteBut, you know, eight kids and a mortgage will give one second thoughts. . .
A sufficiently large company can function an awful lot like the government itself, in terms of being impersonal and 'irresistible'. . .